Kaizen philosophy, key in achieving one district one factory policy – JICA

Accra, March 15, GNA – Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Mr Koji Makino, said for Ghana to achieve its policy on “sowing the seeds for growth and jobs; and One district One factory Initiatives” it must consider the application of the Kaizen philosophy.

He said: “one of the important keys to achieve these initiates is industrialization and not a simple, mere industrialization but the one with competitiveness”. The Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of quality and productivity which are key for Japanese industrial development and applied techniques. Mr Makino, who said this at Kaizen National award in Accra, said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo’s State-of-The-Nation address identified SME development as one of the key pillars for industrial transformation of the country. “In achieving such transformation, we strongly believe that the Kaizen philosophy is an essential tool and will contribute in increasing and improving the quality and productivity in manufacturing,” he added. The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) and JICA instituted the award after the launch of the Kaizen International project in 2012 to acknowledge the efforts of SMEs and application of high kaizen skills by Business Advisory Centres (BAC) to their clients. The project is to strengthen capacity of NBSSI on its Business Development Services (BDS) provision and facilitation in the target areas. The project has since started in the Ashanti Region on a pilot basis and based on the successes of the first phase, the second phase, “National KAIZEN Project” was launched in 2015 to cover the whole country. Currently, the Northern, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti regions are benefitting from the phase 2 of the project. Greater Accra and the Central Regions were also recently roped in the project. Two enterprises, Salom Pharmacy Limited from the Ashanti Region and Shekinah Glory Bakeries from the Northern Region were awarded KAIZEN Champion Enterprises for their achievements and application of high KAIZEN skills to their clients. The best KAIZEN Champion Business Advisory Centre went to the Obuasi BAC in the Ashanti Region and Saboba BAC in the Northern region. The Northern Regional Office took the Best Regional Office award.All the ten regions also received the Best BAC award.